The present application finds particular application in tire pressure monitoring sensor (TPMS) systems. However, it will be appreciated that the described techniques may also find application in other monitoring systems, other sensor systems, or other vehicle safety systems.
Configuration of conventional TPMS systems requires association of individual sensor ID codes with actual wheel positions on a vehicle. If tires are rotated or sensors are replaced, the TPMS electronic control unit (ECU) component requires reprogramming to recreate the mapping of sensor ID codes to wheel locations. This requires special tools to activate each individual sensor as well as tools to connect to the vehicle J1939 bus and place the TPMS ECU component into a learning mode.
One conventional approach relates to a wheel-identifying apparatus with a device on each axle that transmits trigger signals. Each of the devices is oriented at an angle to the other device so that only certain TPMS sensors in the path of the trigger signal will receive the signal from a respective device. Another conventional approach relates to a TPMS with a trigger module at each axle. The TPMS determines which TPMS sensors are located at which wheel end by triggering only one wheel end trigger module at a time. The accelerometers in the TPMS sensors help determine whether the sensor is on the left or right side.
The present innovation provides new and improved systems and methods that facilitate automatically identifying the location of each TPMS sensor on a multi-axle vehicle using low frequency initiator coils with multi-directional antennas to reduce programming overhead and mitigate a need for reprogramming all tire pressure sensors upon tire rotation, wheel replacement, etc., which overcome the above-referenced problems and others.